VOTERS: Can a democracy succeed if the electorate is ignorant and so easily coyed by populist pap?

Question

Why should the vote of a person who has NO functional understanding of basic economics, world events, history, Constitutional law, government/civics, and geopolitics, carry equal weight as the vote of the person who has even a rudimentary grasp on such matters? Are we not doomed, doomed, doomed?

Answer 1

No, the situation is self-correcting. The best do rise to the top, and become candidates for office. The electorate cast votes for all kinds of reason, including skin color and war record - they don't seem relevent to the issues, but they are important to some.

However, when the country has been lead in one direction for too long, that same electorate tends to correct by steering us in the opposite direction.

The awful George W years are coming to a close; all the signs are the electorate plans to correct course and move us back to a Democratic candidate for at least the next four years.

Answer 2

Reminds me of the farmer who made a ton of money selling everything at "1%" profit. When asked how he did it, he explained that if it costs him to produce something at 1 dollar, he sold it at 2 dollars getting a "1% profit".

He did not know the technical terms but sure had a handle on how to make money.

I say be careful of people who call themselves the elite. They may know the words but can they make things or government work?

Answer 3

It could then be termed 'ignokracy' or 'forsokracy' as in the elections recently held in an African country!

Answer 4

No, we are not doomed and yes there is hope for the future.  This election season is going to be tough for those of us who believe in the Constitution and Liberty.  The parties in the mainstream have been hijacked by the extremes at both ends and there is ALOT of money floating around.   Educate yourself and those around you.  Getting back the the constitution is all that needs to be done:

www.campaignforliberty.com

Answer 5

Seems like we can but thanks for asking. I'm sure, though, that you have an extremely functional understanding of all things important and vital to the success of a democracy, right? Gotta be a liberal.

Answer 6

Consider this then there are those who subordinate themselves for pay in office buildings. People like computer engineers when they have the capacity to design their own currency. This may annoy a person to repeat it but a person must ask why. There is also another point which is that  perhaps  either  a system without money or one in which currency is perpetuated. Such may cause damage  but a person might see that an economy is unsustainable at least the way done now. Resource depletion. First step free people of monetary constraints  then while others will be irresonsible there are those who would deal with Global Warming straight away with own currency